It's All in the Timing

The querying process is many things: exciting, distressing, exhilarating, dejecting, affirming.  But what I find most intriguing about it is that it's all in the timing.
 
There are a few big no-nos in querying, and one of them is to not query the same agent with the same project once she's passed.  You might be reading this blog, thinking to yourself, "Well, obviously, Megan!"  I know, I know.  But sometimes mistakes happen, and sometimes, they're illuminating mistakes.

Years ago, when I first queried Sweet Divinity in its initial iteration, I queried an agent from the South who I thought would like my super-southern premise.  I sent her my query letter as part of a slew of queries.  As a teacher, I spend my summers full-on pursuing my writing career; heaven knows that during the school year there's hardly time to do laundry, let alone establish a new career!  Needless to say, the agent passed, and so I moved her rejection email to the proper folder in my inbox, and I moved on.

Fast forward several years and a baby.  I had reworked parts of Sweet Divinity, but the general premise remained the same.  I added a few scenes for character development and for humor, and once again I sat down to send out my queries. 

This time I had my priceless, pink planner, and I systematically noted every agent I queried, along with their agency and the date I sent my materials.  This was during the "summer of pneumonia" I've written about on this blog.  A very literary summer indeed.

As I submitted one particular query and then recorded the information in my planner, I suddenly realized that this name was familiar.

I yanked open my laptop and, in quite a panicked sweat, pulled up my email, opened the "Rejections" folder, and did a quick search.

And there it was...I had queried the same agent.  A duplicate query. 

I threw myself across the table, chastising myself for not being more systematic and organized the first time around. 

And if you know me, then you know that this is typical.  I'm an extremely organized, yet cluttered, person.  My natural state is to exist in a room surrounded by trinkets, my mind jumping from one project to the next, forgetting to do simple things like, I don't know, actually go to the appointment I scheduled. 

And so I am a systematic planner.  I keep the family calendar, with all of our appointments listed in precise time increments; I have a second giant calendar on my desk to provide a monthly view; and I have to-do lists on post-its on my computer screen and on my desk.

I am naturally cluttered, and so I over-organize in anticipation of my distraction and "Squirrel!" moments.

And it drives me nuts when I fail.

As I saw the agent's rejection email staring at me from the screen, I chastised myself and prayed that the rejection would come quickly and without an acknowledgement of what I had done.

And what do you know?

Same manuscript, same query letter, same author bio, same first ten pages.

She asked to see more.

I'm learning more and more about writing, publishing, and myself as I mosey along in my journey towards publication.  One of the unexpected lessons I've learned is that sometimes it's all in the timing.  I won't be duplicate-querying other agents, not by any means, but I will remember that a rejection isn't an outright rejection of me, my abilities, or my work.  In fact, sometimes, and maybe often, it's simply not my time.  So I will keep working until it is.